Home / How To Advice / Editor's note: This story is adapted from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's Residential Rehabilitation Inspection Guide, 2000. Click here for other stories in this series. The following material was developed for the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) Economics Department based on asurvey of manufacturers, trade associations and product researchers. Many factors affect the life expectancy of housing components and need to be considered when making replacement decisions, including the quality of the components, the quality of their installation, their level of maintenance, weather and climatic conditions, and intensity of their use. Some components remain functional but become obsolete because of changing styles and tastes or because of product improvements. Note that the following life expectancy estimates are provided largely by the industries or manufacturers that make and sell the components listed. Source: Appliance Statistical Review, April 1990

Sources: Neil Kelly Designers, Thompson House of Kitchens and Bath Sources: Kitchen Cabinet Manufacturers Association, Neil Kelly Designers Sources: AFPAssociates of Western Plastics, Ceramic Tile Institute of America Sources: Wayne Dalton Corporation, National Wood Window and Door Association, Raynor Garage Doors Source: Jesse Aronstein, Engineering Consultant Source: Brick Institute of America Floors Sources: Carpet and Rug Institute, Congoleum Corporation, Hardwood Plywood Manufacturers Association, Marble Institute, National Terrazzo and Mosaic Association, National Wood Flooring Association, Resilient Floor Covering Institute Source: WR Grace and Company Sources: Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Institute, Air Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration News, Air Movement and Control Association, American Gas Association, American Society of Gas Engineers, American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air-Conditioning Engineers, Inc., Safe Aire Incorporated

Sources: Insulation Contractors Association of America, North American Insulation Manufacturers Association Sources: Associated Landscape Contractors of America, Irrigation Association Sources: Brick Institute of America, Architectural Components, National Association of Brick Distributors, National Stone Association Sources: Finnaren and Haley, Glidden Company, The Wall Paper Sources: American Concrete Pipe Association, Cast Iron Soil and Pipe Institute, Neil Kelly Designers, Thompson House of Kitchens and Baths4 ton ac unit dimensions Source: National Roofing Contractors Associationefficiency of an ac unit Sources: A.C. Shutters, Inc., Alcoa Building Products, American Heritage Shuttersac unit line has ice on it

Sources: Alcoa Building Products, Alside, Inc., Vinyl Siding Institute Sources: Association of Wall and Ceiling Industries International, Ceramic Tile Institute of America Sources: Best Built Products, Optimum Window Manufacturing, Safety Glazing Certification Council, Screen Manufacturers Association Inside Old House WebAir conditioning is so essential to survival in Florida that we call it "air." Without it, you die. Suffocating on your own sweat.It is no coincidence that Florida's population didn't start to skyrocket until air conditioning began to proliferate in the 1960s. We go from our air-conditioned homes to our air-conditioned cars to our air-conditioned jobs. We go outside to take out the trash and then run back indoors.So, in essence, air conditioning invented Florida."Florida as we know it would not exist without air conditioning. We'd probably still be a state of 4 or 5 million instead of 19 million," said Raymond Ostby Arsenault, a history professor at the University of South Florida St. Petersburg who has written about the effect of air conditioning in Florida.No air, no Disney World, Arsenault said.

A Floridian, John Gorrie, is often credited as the "father of air conditioning" and the ice machine. Think about it: The motel ice machine and anemic room air conditioner are descended from the same man.But more often, New York-born Willis Carrier is regarded as the "Father of Cool" for inventing the mechanical air conditioner in 1902.Air conditioning didn't become part of the average Florida home until the 1950s with the advent of the window unit. That was followed by central air in the 1960s and the heat pump, which provides warmth and cooling, in the 1970s. Before that, air conditioning was used as a selling point by movie theaters, motels, restaurants and cities.Sarasota was once promoted in song as "the Air-Conditioned City." Now every Florida city is air-conditioned.Until something goes wrong.Hurricanes knock out the electricity for weeks. The compressor inside the AC unit self-destructs. If you live in Florida long enough, you will experience the loss of air.And when that happens, you're right back in Florida circa 1920.

Chanelle Wallace took that trip back in time in 2004 when she spent two weeks without electricity thanks to Hurricane Charley.It was too hot to sleep, too hot to eat, and no escape. No air-conditioned motels, no air-conditioned restaurants, no air-conditioned movie theaters, no air-conditioned shopping malls."We were constantly sweating, hot and miserable," said Wallace, 27, of Winter Park.The only thing close to the agony she experienced of living without air was giving birth to her daughter. Except the pain of childbirth is something you get over and forget, she said: "I'll never forget the heat."This time of year, it's nonstop calls from residents such as Wallace to air-conditioning repair businesses such as Orlando's Greens Energy Services, whose slogan is "We'll come to your rescue.""It's like controlled chaos," said Bill Green, company vice president. "It's just constant from the middle of May to the middle of September. We run calls 24 hours, seven days a week."During the peak season, Greens adds staff to field the 70 to 80 calls a day from people whose air has stopped working.

The voices on the other end are desperate, urgent, pleading, irritable. You can almost smell the sweat through the receiver."I can hear the pain in their voices," said Green, a 37-year-old Orlando native who has never known life without air.Like everybody else, Green has come home, turned on the air — and nothing."For me, it's torture," he said. "I couldn't live like that, and I often wonder how people used to live in Florida without air conditioning."They wore loincloths and sat on porches beneath overhanging roofs, fanning themselves with cardboard paddles from funeral homes and churches.In retrospect, this made them more sociable, more neighborly, less isolated. The lack of a sense of community in modern-day Florida is often blamed on air conditioning and automatic garage-door openers."They aren't on their rocking chairs on their porches. They are in their living rooms watching television," Arsenault said.Arsenault said this from North Carolina, where he was sitting outside on a porch, escaping the summer heat.